So, What’s New With You?

Last Friday night, I was at an event. It had been snowing all day and the roads were horrible, but I managed to make it there and back in one piece. All in all, it was worth it, as I had a wonderful time with good friends.

Now, I knew it was an “event,” because a friend of mine was there who is guaranteed to show up somewhere if it’s an event. It has to be a damn good one, too. Facetiousness aside, she’s a wonderful, intelligent woman and a lot of fun to talk with. I hadn’t seen her in a few months, so the first words out of her mouth were:

“So, what’s new with you?”

Well, I don’t know about the rest of you obsessive yarnsters, but that is often a difficult question for me to answer. This is what I REALLY wanted to say:

“Oh, my Goddess, what a time I’ve had! First of all, I’ve spend months knitting a ducky blanket for a dear friend…RIGHT UNDER HER NOSE…passing it off as a blanket for a coworker. She loved it, but the Gods do have a sense of humor. No sooner had I completed that then a coworker REALLY did turn out to be expecting. I had two weeks to frantically knit a baby sweater and hat for her. Now this was no ordinary little hat. I had to use MULTIPLE short rows, which is something I’d never attempted before. It took three tries, but I got it done, and my coworker absolutely loved it. In the meantime, I was working on designing and knitting a Rune Sweater for my partner. Again, something I’d never attempted—I’ve knitted yoke sweaters before, but I’ve never designed one, much less one with runes, using stranded knitting. It was a crazy challenge, but I got it done. She was so thrilled when she opened her present Christmas day, because—yes—I’d knitted this RIGHT UNDER HER NOSE, pretending it was for me. Now, I’m working on a sweater for myself, using the yarn I got for Christmas. Oh, yes, and there was my wild excursion to Creative Fibers the other weekend for their big Winter Sale on all their yarn and patterns…”

I knew this would bore her to tears, so I said:

“Oh, not much.”

Okay, show of hands...

How many knitters and crocheters out there prepare for a big storm, not so much by perusing the stash of canned goods and water, but by checking the YARN stash???

We are due for a nasty storm of "mixed" precipitation tomorrow. My first though was to make sure I enough WIPs to keep me going. I have one main project - a sweater I'm knitting (natch), a more complicated project involving many cables and odd stitches I've never attempted before, the granny stripe afghan project, and of course TONS of stash (you never know when the urge will hit to cast on or chain up for yet another WIP).

I had the mad idea of using the time to rifle through my supplies and tidy up...yeah, I dismissed the idea, too, when I took one good look at the bedlam.

I started out my crafting life with one crochet hook and one pair of Size 8 straight Boye aluminum knitting needles. I now own hooks and needles to the point (no pun intended) where we could probably sell them out of the house and make enough money for a trip to Cancun. I have an ENTIRE bookcase filled with books and miscellaneous printed patterns (again, we could sell all of this on eBay and retire), plus we won't even go into the yarn stash (at least without riot gear).

So, my plan tomorrow, after working from home, will be to sit happily and work on my WIPs, while watching the weathermen having orgasms over THE BIG STORM!!!

Knit Pattern for the Special Olympics Scarf

At long last, I'm posting the pattern for my Knit Special Olympics scarf! Keeping with the basic guidelines at the site http://www.scarvesforspecialolympics.org I decided to create my own pattern...



Measurements: 6" wide x 60" long, excluding fringe.

Gauge: 11 stitches = 3” in garter stitch
Row gauge is not critical, as the rows are repeated until almost 6” is reached.

Materials:
1 skein each
Red Heart Supersaver Blue (#0886) - A
Red Heart Supersaver Turqua (#0512) - B
Needles: Size 10 (6 mm) 24” circular needle

NOTE: The scarf is worked lengthwise.
Do not break off the yarn when changing to a new color. You can carry the other color up the side and pick up again, as needed, for each color change.

Using A, cast on 220 stitches, using a knit cast-on.

Row 1: k
Row 2: Using B, k
Row 3: k
Row 4: Using A, k
Row 5: k

Repeat Rows 2 – 5, until the scarf measures almost 6” wide.

Repeat Row 2 one more time (B), and then bind off in B.
The scarf should now be 6” wide and 60” long.

Fringe:
Cut 12” lengths of both colors of yarn.
Taking one strand for each stripe, tie a fringe across the ends of the scarf, using an A strand for an “A” stripe and a B strand for a “B” stripe.

Trim all the ends to be a uniform length.

The new little addition!

Yes, I've done it again...I've once again added to our stuffed animal kingdom. The newest little arrival is our stuffed mouse, knitted from the Lion Brand City Mouse Toy pattern.

I knitted one for our little neighbor across the street, who loved it, and one for my Sweetums. He's been getting acquainted with the other minions:

Crochet Pattern for Special Olympics Scarf

At long last, I've finished my Special Olympics scarf! Keeping with the basic guidelines at the site http://www.scarvesforspecialolympics.org I decided to create my own pattern...


Crochet Pattern for the Special Olympics Scarf

Measurements: 6" wide x 60" long, excluding fringe.

Gauge: Each V group = 3/4", 13 rows = 4.5”
Row gauge is not critical, as the rows are repeated until almost 6” is reached.

Materials:
1 skein each
Red Heart Supersaver Blue (#0886) - A
Red Heart Supersaver Turqua (#0512) - B
Hook: K (6.50mm)

NOTE: The scarf is worked lengthwise.

Using A, ch 221

Row 1: sc into the 2nd chain from the hook, and then sc across until the end of the row. Fasten off, leaving a long tail, at least 8 inches long (these tails will be part of the fringe). 220 sts.

Row 2: Using B, fasten on and (sc,ch1,dc) in 1 st to form a V, (skip next 2 sts, sv - V stitch - in next st) across to last 3 sts, skip next 2 sts, hdc in last st. Fasten off, leaving a long tail. Should have 73 sv repeats, plus the 1 hdc at the end of the row.

Row 3: Using A, fasten on as a sc in the first stitch, then sv in each ch 1 space across, then hdc in the last stitch. Fasten off, leaving a long tail.

Repeat Row 3, alternating between colors A and B, each time fastening off to leave a tail. When the scarf measures almost 6" wide (ending with A), fasten off, leaving a long tail.

Last Row: Using B, fasten on as hdc, then * (sc,hdc) into the ch 1 space, hdc into next stitch (sc of the previous row, where there is a "dip" in the row). Continue from * until the end of the row. Hdc into the last stitch, and then fasten off, leaving a long tail.

The scarf should now be 6” wide and 60” long.

Fringe:
Cut 12” lengths of both colors of yarn – at least 9 strands of each A and B color.
Taking a strand of A and a strand of B for each fringe grouping, tie a fringe across the ends of the scarf. Incorporate the strands left from the fastening off of each row.

Trim all the ends to be a uniform length.

The Yarn Sirens strike again...

The Sirens have really gone and done it now...

I've made a chilling discovery. Not only do the yarn sirens sing their clarion call for me to drop everything in life I'm doing to go "to the yarn store...to the yarn store...to the yarn store..." - they appear to be capable of moving, bending, and shaping the cosmos to accommodate their wishes.

Case in point:

To back this up, I joined an online forum through our Intranet at work. The powers that be in our company created this work forum space as a way for employees to network/chat about actual work.

No one is doing that.

Seriously, no one is going to fritter away their hard-earned lunch breaks sharing about insurance, annuities, and interest rates ("Bob, did you hear that they wanted to make the GAAP Reserve rate 6.5%??? HAHAHAH!!!"). Everyone (except for the actuaries) would go to asleep.

Instead, the current topics for the work forums include sports, children, scrap booking, and yes - KNITTING! Someone in the downtown Home Office (I like to call it "The Mother Ship") decided to start a Knitting and Crocheting forum. It's been very lively lately because they've launched a campaign to have us all knit scarves for Special Olympics. Every year, I miss the deadline for Special Olympics, so this year I decided to have at it. If any of you are interested in knitting a scarf for this worthy cause, this is the website: http://www.scarvesforspecialolympics.org/

Needless to say, this required MORE YARN. I didn't happen to have Red Heart Super Saver 886 Blue or 512 Turqua lying around the house. At work today, the sirens began:

"Go to Michaels...go to Michaels...go to Michaels..."

I argued with the sirens. I explained that I had to leave work today promptly at 4:00 to be on time for my personal training appointment, and that I'd need to put off any shopping until tomorrow.

This is where it starts getting freaky...As I was leaving work, I checked my email on my Blackberry. There was an email from - you guessed it - my personal trainer! She said she was feeling ill and had to leave the gym and did I mind canceling for this week? I was, of course, overjoyed! Then it hit me...the Yarn Sirens! They did it! They moved, bended, and shaped things so that I'd go to Michaels instead of the gym! Unreal!

Gosh, I had another thought...does anyone suppose my personal trainer is sick because SHE'S PREGNANT??? I can't seem to get through a month without having to knit baby things for someone.

You know the Sirens are going to send me back to the store for baby yarn...LOL.

Pattern for Stealth Baby Square #1

For our SnB's Stealth Baby Blanket knitting project, here is the pattern I used for the first Baby Square:

Used: Lion Brand Vanna's Choice yarn in Rose Mist (1/2 skein, approx. 72.5 yds)
#9 (5.25 mm) Needles
Gauge: 4 stitches per inch in Stockinette
Square should measure 10" square after completion


Cast on 44 stitches

Begin pattern:

Row 1: k
Row 2: k2, p4 -- repeat to last two stitches, then k2
Row 3: k
Row 4: k2, p4 -- repeat to last two stitches, then k2
Row 5: k2, C4F -- repeat to last two stitches, then k2
Row 6: k2, p4 -- repeat to last two stitches, then k2

Continue this pattern until the piece measures 10".

Bind off (sewn bindoff or bind off in pattern).

With the RS facing you, pick up and knit 38 stitches along the side of the square. Knit two more rows, then bind off.

Repeat for the other side of the square.

Weave in all ends.